Breakfast with Girls is the third studio album by the American pop rock band Self, released on July 13, 1999, by DreamWorks Records and Spongebath Records, and is the band's only album released on DreamWorks. Its songs were mainly written and composed by Matt Mahaffey, the band's lead member. The album includes elements of a power pop and hip-hop soundscape. Three singles supported it; the first, "Paint by Numbers", received a nomination for Song of the Year from the Nashville Music Association Awards, while the third, "Meg Ryan", was the album's major single.

It peaked at number eighteen on the CMJ Top 200 chart, the band's best-known performance at the time, later beaten by their fourth studio album Gizmodgery (2000).

Background

For his debut album, Subliminal Plastic Motives (1995), Self's leader Matt Mahaffey focused on guitar arrangements and incorporating rock music. Following its release, he frequently appeared at rock radio stations, performed at venues within the genre, and received invitations to strip clubs from radio personalities and other music industry colleagues. Mahaffey's strong disinterest in this lifestyle led him to drop his guitar usage on his second album, The Half-Baked Serenade (1997), citing the first album as a bad first impression. He continued to hold the mindset when making his third album, declaring the project to be "anti-rock". Before recording began for Self's third studio album, Mahaffey attended a Failure show in Nashville. Through a mutual friend, Mahaffey met with lead member Ken Andrews, proceeding to play a concert with Failure as a part of Self at the Exit/In some time later.

Production

thumb|left|upright=0.8|Self during the recording of Breakfast with Girls in 1998.

After signing to DreamWorks Records, a larger budget allowed Mahaffey to work with various acclaimed engineers and producers for the album, including Andrews, Richard Dodd, and Hugh Padgham. He additionally recorded with a full orchestra for some songs, led by the Nashville String Machine. Sessions primarily took place at Ocean Way in Nashville, Tennessee, with additional recording done at the Bennett House in Franklin, Tennessee, Mahaffey's home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Treasure Isle in Nashville. Mahaffey composed each song's instrumental before writing lyrics, prioritizing a wide range of expression.

Mahaffey spent his weekdays working on Breakfast with Girls while allotting weekends to work on Gizmodgery (2000), which is dubbed as "a toy instrument album" due to being recorded completely with toys. Mahaffey occasionally sent songs recorded during these sessions to DreamWorks, with them becoming interested in one and asking him to re-record it for inclusion on Breakfast with Girls, he subsequently re-recorded the song with a full band, wishing to contain toy songs to Gizmodgery. The song "Uno Song" was Mahaffey's first project in Pro Tools, and thus the album's only non-analog song. The label chose "Meg Ryan" as a single, a love song centered around the actress of the same name.

Music and lyrics

Style and influences

Breakfast with Girls primarily uses a pop rock and hip hop soundscape, additionally featuring a hip-hop inspired beat. "Kill the Barflies" is primarily a rock song, with Mahaffey's vocals heavily distorted until they are ineligible. "Meg Ryan" is sung in "white-boy" whiny vocals, and heavily samples the New Kids on The Block album Hangin' Tough (1988) into its beat. aswell as incorporating a surf rock aesthetic. It features an organ, and is mixed with a synthesizer and punchy drums.

Lyrics

Self based Breakfast with Girls on a novel. "Suzie Q Sailaway" was originally written and recorded by Mahaffey for inclusion on Gizmodgery, but he was requested by DreamWorks to release it on Breakfast with Girls. alongside a playable flash game, in it, players would have to defeat Self's members to gain access to different sections of the website. Upon completion, players would gain access to a free MP3 download of Feels Like Breakin' Shit (1998). DreamWorks additionally sent VHS tapes to the press, which showcased and detailed the bands activities during the creation of Breakfast with Girls.

Upon its release, DreamWorks advertised Breakfast with Girls as "a mix of - um, everything". It released through MTV and DreamWorks Records on July 21, 1998. Director Alan Cohn picked the song as a theme for the main character, Josh Miller (Tom Everett Scott). "Meg Ryan" was released as the album's third and final single on May 25, 1999, marketed as the album's main single. Self appeared live for LAUNCH magazine in January 2001, performing the song "Uno Song" for LAUNCH's "The Lot."

Release

Breakfast with Girls was delayed multiple times, first reported by CMJ to have a release date of August 25, 1998. In later issues, the magazine projected release dates of March 2, June 29, and July 14, 1999. It is the only studio album Self released through the former. Breakfast with Girls was distributed on CD, cassette, and vinyl. The latter was delayed in production due to a lack of commercial demand.

| rev2 = Pitchfork

| rev2score = 6.5/10

| rev3 = Spin

| rev3score = 7/10

Gabe Besecker of Woof Magazine stated that the rock focus of Subliminal Plastic Motives led Breakfast with Girls to initially receive a negative reception for its power pop style, but that it is regarded as "a masterpiece" by fans. Barry Walters of Spin reviewed Breakfast with Girls with a 7 out of 10 rating, complimenting Mahaffey's creativity and style fusions alongside the project's emotional vulnerability and quirkiness. but lost to Faith Hill's "This Kiss".

Track listing

Sample credits

  • "Kill the Barflies" contains samples of "T-Boz Tried to Talk to Me!", written by Dwight Conroy Farrell, as performed by Count Bass D.
  • "What Are You Thinking?" embodies portions of "Chew, Chew, Chew, Chew Your Bubble Gum", written by Ella Fitzgerald, Buck Ram, and Chick Webb, as performed by Ella Fitzgerald.
  • "Sucker" contains samples of "Exactly Like You", written by Beverly Laine, as performed by Beverly Laine, and samples of "Day by Day", written by Sammy Cahn, as performed by Bing Crosby with Mel Tormé and His Mel-Tones.
  • "Breakfast with Girls" contains samples of "It Gets No Rougher", written by Hank Shocklee, Keith Shocklee, Eric Sadler, and J.T. Smith, as performed by LL Cool J.
  • "It All Comes Out in the Wash" contains samples of "Moanin' at Midnight", written by Chester Burnett, as performed by Howlin' Wolf.

Personnel

Self

  • Matt Mahaffey – lead vocals, instruments
  • Mike Mahaffey – electric guitar, acoustic guitar (all tracks), bass (6, 12, 13), xylophone, clarinet samples (8)
  • Mac Burrus – bass (all tracks), toilet (1), harmonica (2), double bass (9), trombone (11)
  • Chris James – piano (1, 4, 6, 7), B-3, vox (2, 6), toy piano, xylophone (4)
  • Jason Rawlings – drums (4, 7, 11), percussion (6, 12)

Additional musicians and arrangement

  • Nashville String Machine – strings (7, 13)
  • Richard Griffith – saxophone (9)
  • David Jellema – horns (11)
  • Chuck Lee – string arrangement (7)
  • Ron Huff – conductor (7)
  • Chris McDonald – string arrangement, conductor (13)

Technical

  • Matt Mahaffey – production, engineer (all tracks), mixing engineer (5)
  • Hugh Padgham – mixing engineer (1–3, 6–13)
  • Csaba Petocz – mixing engineer (4)
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering engineer
  • Richard Williams – executive producer
  • Richard Dodd – engineer
  • Bobby Dufresne Jr. – engineer
  • Jeff Balding – engineer
  • Ken Andrews – engineer (all tracks), production (13)
  • Shawn McLean – engineer (all tracks), string engineer (13)
  • Joe Baldridge – engineer
  • Chris James – engineer
  • Glenn Spinner – assistant engineer
  • Aaron Swihart – assistant engineer
  • Joe Costa – assistant engineer
  • Brian Garten – assistant engineer
  • John Saylor – assistant engineer
  • Allen Sides – string engineer (7)

Other

  • Michael Ostin – artists and repertoire
  • Brian Bottcher – art direction and design, photography
  • Brooke Niessner – art and photo assistance
  • Kathy Morgan – photography
  • Doug Payne – photo assistance
  • Zumwalt, Almon & Hayes – legal

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|+

! scope="col" style="width:16em"| Chart (1999)

! scope="col"| Peak<br />position

|-

!scope="row"| Alternative Radio Airplay (CMJ)

|19

|-

!scope="row"| CMJ Top 200

|18

|}

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+

! scope="col" style="width:10em"| Chart (1999)

! scope="col"| Position

|-

! scope="row"| CMJ Top 200